San Francisco State Gator Matt Vera (7) hits his bat on the ground at the game against Cal State Stanislaus Warriors on Sunday March 29. (Marlene Sanchez / Xpress)

The combination of good offense and defense has pulled the SF State men’s baseball team from a rocky 2-8 start to winning eight of their last twelve games, giving them a renewed focus to make playoffs.

The Gators had trouble winning at home early in the season, losing their first five games at Maloney Field. Shaking off the beginning season jitters, the team has placed fifth in the California Collegiate Athletic Association standings with a 9-7 record.

“I think we’ve been pretty average,” said head coach Mike Cummins. “We’ve done some good things, it’s the consistency.”

Junior Nolan Sheridan got off to a great start for the Gators’ pitching staff, posting a 3.29 ERA in 41.0 innings pitched, allowing 15 earned runs and only walking nine players.

The rest of the pitching staff has produced average results with a combined 4.97 ERA that places the team eighth in the CCAA standings for pitching.

The Gators’ offense has been a shining part of the young season with the team hitting a solid .279 average. At 87 times being struck out, SF State holds the CCAA record for fewest in the league this season.

“Our hitting is a lot better,” said second baseman Fernando Escobar. “We just have to lock down on defense, keep that important and clean that up a little bit.”

Senior Mark Lindsay has led the Gators in four statistical categories including hits, batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. In addition, junior outfielder Jacob Lopez stands out as an offensive leader for the Gators by holding a hitting average of .304, with 21 hits and 15 RBIs.

SF State Gator Matt Vera (7) hits his bat on the ground at the game against Cal State Stanislaus Warriors on Sunday March 29. (Marlene Sanchez / Xpress)

“I think we’ve done good so far,” Lopez said. “But we can always do better and we gotta look to come out in the second half hot and win more games. I don’t think we have to change much, we just have to practice hard, keep fighting and keep working.”

The Gators have 19 games remaining in the 2015 season, and while currently sitting in the middle of the pack of the CCAA conference, a playoff appearance is in play.

Six of the Gators’ upcoming nine games will be on the road with a tough schedule against Cal State Monterrey Bay and Cal State San Bernardino. Beginning in mid April, SF State will have nine of ten games at Maloney Field, giving them a number of home games to make a playoff push.

“I think we have to be more consistent,” Cummins said. “We have to get what we practice translated into the game when the pressure is on.”

SF State continues the second half of the season this weekend against Cal State Monterey Bay in a four-game series.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/mens-baseball-midseason-review/feed/0Women’s softball show midseason offensive progresshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/womens-softball-midseason-review/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/womens-softball-midseason-review/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:53:26 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64651Looking out over the pock-marked infield, coach Cristina Byrne measured the expressions on the faces beneath purple SFSU visors. The white bases of SF State’s softball diamond were already stained reddish-brown by the cleats of the visiting Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes. It was the second inning of the afternoon game March 21, and the Gators had fallen into a 5-0 hole.

Facing an early deficit was nothing new for the 7-21 Gators, and consistently playing from behind has been one of the team’s biggest problems this season, according to Byrne. The game marked the ninth time the squad had trailed by three or more runs before the third inning, and they have yet to come back from a score disparity of that size. Their level of play despite a demoralizing first couple of frames showed how far this team has come since getting beaten by five or more in seven of their first 14 outings.

Junior shortstop Jennifer Lewis scores in game two of a doubleheader against Cal State San Bernardino at SFSU Softball Field Friday, March 20. (David Henry / Xpress)

“A lot of times this year we have let games get away from us before we even have a chance to be in them,” Byrne said. “I tell them in those situations, let’s make this inning or this at-bat count. That’s all you can do. They’re a young team and they’ve really been rising to that challenge.”

One and a half scoreless innings later, first baseman Selina Rodriguez had stretched her lead off at-bat into a drawn-out 3-2 count. On the next pitch she shot the ball over the fence in left-center field.

Rodriguez had entered the game with a .237 batting average, indicating a comparatively slow start to her season. Her early struggles are not uncharacteristic of the team’s veteran hitters. All five of the returners who batted above .250 last year have hit at a lower clip than they finished with last season.

For the rest of the fourth inning the Gators picked apart the Coyotes’ defense, adding three more runs. Suddenly, a Gators team that had been beaten by five runs or more 10 times at that point in the season found themselves in the thick of a 5-4 battle.

“We have great chemistry as a team, and it really shows when we play together,” Fernandez said. “We’re just trying to do as well as we can with what we have.”

Statistically, the 2015 Gators softball team had just recorded an unprecedented string of at-bats. Only once this season have the Gators scored more runs in one inning, and never while they were trailing. In fact, four runs was more than the Gators scored in any single game throughout their first 13 contests of the season.

Two innings later, the Coyotes once again seemed to be hitting off of an invisible tee sticking out of home plate. The visitors tacked on another five runs to make the score 10-4.

SF State Gator infielder Lucy Fernandez tags a Cal State San Bernardino runner out at third base in game one of a doubleheader at SFSU Softball Field Friday, March 20. (David Henry / Xpress)

Throughout the month of February the Gators posted just 27 runs in 16 games. Their opponents scored 84 times during the same stretch. In March’s 12 games however, the squad’s offensive improvement has brought that disparity down to just a 45-63 run differential. Despite sporadically solid pitching performances, particularly from ace Megan Clark, SF State’s opponents have consistently scored just above five runs a game on average.

Fernandez struck again in the bottom of the fourth. The RBI hit brought up Sara Higa, a freshman who has batted .365 this season and been a huge part of the Gators’ recent offensive surge.

After falling down 1-2 in the count, Higa cracked a ball into deep left and watched her first career home run sail over the head of a retreating Coyotes outfielder and beyond the chain link fence.

“It felt really good,” Higa said. “This team is so determined and I’m glad to be able to contribute. Every chance I get to give it my all, I take advantage of that.”

The Gators have been on the rise in ways that their record has not begun to reflect, and this game was no exception to that trend. Higa’s homer was the last scoring for either team in the contest that ended 10-7.

In the defeat however, the Gators showed as much heart as they have in any game this season, and the rest of the year remains replete with possibilities, according to Byrne.

“We can build off of a weekend like this,” Byrne said. “This is the best ball I’ve seen this team play. I think they’re just starting to realize how great they can actually be.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/womens-softball-midseason-review/feed/0Students targeted in scam through babysitting servicehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/care-com-online-scam/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/31/care-com-online-scam/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 20:25:12 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64645The story of a deaf mother in need of assistance for her son who uses a wheelchair compelled one SF State student into accepting a part-time nanny job. But her empathy almost cost her $3,000 in an online scam.

Sophomore Lauren Well signed up for Care.com, a third party website that employs users for family and home care, last November. Two weeks after she signed up, a person under the alias “Julia” contacted her about a caretaker job for her son “Joe.”

The woman told Well through email that she and her son were moving to San Francisco from New York for a fresh start because she had lost her husband and a nine-month-old baby in the car crash that left her son bound to a wheelchair.

“I felt my heart just kind of crunch up at this because I really wanted to help this woman out,” Well said. “I thought that she had gone through this huge ordeal and that she really needed somebody for her and her son while they were going through this really hard time.”

“Julia” hired Well without conducting a phone or in-person interview and gave Well the assignment of purchasing a wheelchair for her son as a first task. When “Julia” sent a $3,000 check in the mail, Well said she became skeptical.

“She sent me the check via FedEx and when I got the check, it looked extremely suspicious,” Well said. “It came from a bank in New Orleans and when I tried to Google the bank, I couldn’t really find anything.”

Well went to the bank to deposit the check and the bank teller said that the money would not be available for two weeks because it had to go through a security clearance.

After an extensive Google search, Well learned that she was one of several people lured into the same wheelchair scam. A user posted in an online scam forum the names, phone numbers and email addresses used as well as the content of emails from the scammer to the caretaker. Well said she immediately cancelled the check and blocked the woman’s number.

“I was just kind of in shock because I didn’t think this was going to happen,” Well said. “I almost sent $3,000 away to an unknown company. And then when the check would have bounced, it would have been on me to pay that money.”

SF State student Seazzia Castillo found herself involved in a different scam from the same website in January. Castillo said she accepted her first job at Care from a man who needed a personal assistant to run errands for him in the U.S. while he was in Australia.

“I was under the impression that they (the employers) go through background checks as well,” Castillo said. “I don’t know how he got my mobile banking information but he had sent me over a copy of a check and said, ‘I’m depositing this over to your account.'”

He sent Castillo a $2,500 check and told her to pocket $400 as her salary.

According to Castillo, the check didn’t clear but $200 of her salary did. She spent the money and later found out that her account dropped to -$171, the amount spent from her salary.

Lauren Well a recreation, parks and tourism major holds her phone with the email scam from Care.com in front of Whole Foods Market on Ocean Ave. where she works Sunday, March 29. (Emma Chiang / Xpress)

The next day, her account dropped to -$2,500. After Castillo filed a police report, her account dropped to -$4,000.

“Apparently the guy had deposited money into my account and then took it out before they could catch that it wasn’t a real check,” Castillo said. “I don’t know how he was able to do that but it was just so annoying.”

Castillo said the bank reversed the overdraft fees and sent her what was in her savings and her last direct deposit. According to Castillo, the police said they couldn’t do much because they had to attend to more pressing issues

“These people come off innocent, needing help,” Castillo said. “Any college student is desperate for money so we want to help in any way we can but it’s just no. You can’t trust people on the internet at all.”

SF State freshman and Care.com user Meredith Coon said she heard about the wheelchair scam through three of her friends who were contacted by a wheelchair scammer, one of whom lost $150.

Coon requires all of her employers at Care.com to go through a mandatory background check before she accepts any babysitting or nanny offers since she received an email from the wheelchair scammer. Coon said that she has encountered many employers who refused to comply.

“Most of the time, it’s either because they aren’t who they say they are or it’s just because they don’t want to go through the trouble,” Coon said.

In the safety guide outlined on the website, Care.com urges members to use the monitored messaging system provided, be vigilant, conduct in-person interviews and contact Care.com when a message or job offer seems like spam or a scam.

Care.com’s safety guide also advisesusers to never accept advanced payments by check in amounts greater than agreed upon and never transfer funds paid by check back to someone since that is a recognized Internet scamming technique.

A representative of Care.com declined to be interviewed.

Well continues to search for babysitting jobs through another third-party website, Urban Sitter, while maintaining her cashier job at Whole Foods.

“I’ve had friends who have had great experiences with Care.com and I’ve had friends who have had less than wonderful experiences with Care.com so I don’t know,” Well said. “I think there’s always going to be people out there that are willing to go to lengths to scam people that are just trying to find a job.”

No SF State funds will be appropriated to support employee or student travel, according to a mass email sent by Wong to faculty, staff and students. Travel authorized prior to Wong’s announcement will require approval from the pertinent departmental vice president.

“It is unconscionable for this great university to spend its resources in a state that attempts to legislate discrimination of any kind,” Wong said in the statement.

“Although marriage equality is established in Indiana, there is not a state-wide non-discrimination law that protects queer and transgender folks from being discriminated against,” said Mitch Hymowitz, Associate Director for the Queer and Trans Resource Center. “Synonymous with President Wong, the Queer and Trans Resource Center is appalled at Governor Pence’s decision to enact the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana.”

Indiana joins 19 other U.S. states which have enacted some form of a religious freedom act. However, Indiana’s statute contains specific language in two clauses that other states do not.

First, the Indiana RFRA states that a for-profit corporation’s right to the exercise of religion matches those of individuals or churches, a result of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision in 2014. Second, it transforms a business’s exercise of religion right into a justifiable defense against a private lawsuit by another person.

“To actually read that a governor endorsed it and signed the bill—I was just flabbergasted. And to say that it was not an act of discrimination belies the language of the bill itself,” Wong said.

Gov. Pence denied that the law’s intent was to allow a “license to discriminate”, calling reports ridiculous in a news conference March 31.

“Clearly there has been misunderstanding and confusion,” Pence said, blaming reckless reporting for the national uproar. He said the the bill would be amended to ensure it does not award businesses the right to deny services.

SF State is the first university in the U.S. to take concrete action against Indiana, home to the NCAA headquarters, although five Indiana college presidents released statements condemning the law. Wong’s statement follows San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee’s announcement March 28 that banned city-funded travel to Indiana on business for public employees.

“I think it’s an absolutely appropriate step that this campus has taken with our commitment to social justice,” said Associated Students, Inc. President Phoebe Dye. “I’m really proud of President Wong for issuing that statement. It’s a good, progressive step for SF State to be on this side of history.”

Wong, a member of the NCAA Division 2 President’s Council, announced he would not attend a required council meeting in April in Indianapolis. He said a copy of his announcement was sent to NCAA President Mark Emmert and to California State University Chancellor Timothy White.

SF State Athletic Director Charles Guthrie said that while there are no planned team trips to Indianapolis, the department applauded the University and President Wong for taking a strong stance against the Indiana legislation. Guthrie said that SF State athletic coaches on NCAA committees will be joining Wong’s stance and will not attend any future meetings in Indianapolis.

“It would have felt weird for me to simply offer the critique of Indiana and leave it at that, “Wong said. “We’re different than others. We ask students to have courage, when they see something wrong to say something—and I felt that I saw something that was wrong, and I decided to speak out and do something about it.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/indiana-law-leslie-wong-response/feed/0African American enrollment suffers from continuous structural inequalityhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/csu-african-american-enrollment/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/csu-african-american-enrollment/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 20:00:48 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64597Enrollment of African-American students in the California State University system has decreased by 2.4 percent compared to a decade ago, according to CSU statistical reports.

Disparities facing African-American youth including underfunded schools, police violence and joblessness contributed to their decrease in enrollment, according to Shawn Ginwright, associate professor of Africana Studies at SF State.

Ginwright addressed challenges of urban K-12 education in a keynote speech at the 23rd annual Association of African American Educators conference at San Diego State University March 20.

“Most of the public policies are the antithesis of driving African-American students to college,” Ginwright said.

Ginwright cited his new book, “Hope and Healing in Urban Education,” when providing a framework to reduce violence and improve academic performance in schools with low resources. He said social and political issues might have a larger impact on enrollment than university outreach.

Student Outreach Services ensures that community colleges and high schools have information accessible for students to apply and transfer successfully, according to Jo Volkert, SF State interim vice president for student affairs and enrollment management.

Volkert said the CSU system, like SF State, has made specific efforts to reach diverse populations of potential students.

She cited Super Sunday — an annual event for the CSU chancellor and trustees to speak to African-American youth about enrollment by connecting with churches — as one of the many system-wide efforts.

“We try to match (the racial composition of) the entire state because we bring students from the entire state in addition to our region,” Volkert said.

Proposition 209, passed in 1996, prohibits California public institutions from using sex, race, and ethnicity as an admissions factor.

SF State was seventh on a 2013 list published by Diverse magazine of the best non-historically black colleges and universities for minority students. San Jose State University and CSU Long Beach were also included in the list.

Serie McDougal, associate professor of Africana Studies, said the decrease in African-American population at SF State reflects the economic impact on prospective black students.

The African-American student population at SF State was 5.7 percent in 2005 and 5.6 percent in 2014, according to data provided by the Office of Academic Institutional Research. African-American enrollment in 2009 was 6.2 percent — the highest in the decade — but has steadily declined since.

McDougal said while educational aspirations for young people are similar despite race, decision-making is heavily impacted by economic factors, and some African-Americans are forced to choose between entering college and the workforce.

“The (2008-2009) housing market crash represented the greatest loss in wealth in African-American history,” McDougal said. “And that loss in wealth has an influence on career pursuits and family responsibilities.”

He also said the psychological stress imposed by the economic pressures of these choices has a powerful impact on young adults.

“The people who are making these decisions because of the effects of the economy on their lives and their families — they’re facing economic problems, which then turn into family issues, but they themselves are not the problems,” McDougal said.

Ginwright said that psychological factors like academic self-esteem, perceived competence and academic self-efficacy may influence African-American enrollment, but these characteristics are the result of structural factors.

African-American and Latino high school students face challenges with access to college preparatory courses, basic course requirements for CSU admission, and an understanding of the overall application process, according to Ginwright. He said the factors leading to low enrollment, however, are far more complex.

“It’s very difficult to think about (college) success without thinking about pathways,” Ginwright said. “Greater enrollment is a function of pathways.”

In addition to exposing African-American youth to the idea of college as a legitimate option and attracting prospective students, Ginwright said universities are very difficult places to change and must focus on creating upward-bound programs and engaging with K-12 schools.

“I think it’s important to place (enrollment rates) in a broader context in California,” Ginwright said.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/csu-african-american-enrollment/feed/0Graduate student hired for Amtrak researchhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/amtrak-research-grad-student/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/amtrak-research-grad-student/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 19:54:20 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64595Whether it was working dead-end jobs as an assistant to a local florist or an employee at Domino’s Pizza, SF State student Morgan Pentruff never felt fulfilled in her work place until now.

Pentruff has been selected by the University as a research assistant for an extensive, state-wide project, which she said credits her work ethic as the key to scoring a job in her field.

“Recreation, Parks and Tourism is at the core all about helping others find the path to overall well-being,” Penturff said of the SF State educational program. “I love helping others and watching them find joy in something or learn something valuable, so it seemed like the right fit.”

Her new position, which she started in August, is the product of a $1.2 million grant for the RPT department from Caltrans and will fund a research project to analyze rider satisfaction and service awareness with Amtrak California, according to co-principal investigator on the project and assistant professor Pavlina Latkova.

Amtrak is a national passenger rail service and Amtrak California is the state-supported inter-city rail service in California, according to Bruce Roberts, acting chief of the Caltrans Division of Rail and Mass Transportation. He said that Caltrans contracts with Amtrak for rail operation.

RPT undergraduate and graduate students like Penturff will have the opportunity to work closely with Latkova and two other department professors on the project.

Penturff earned her undergraduate degree in recreation, parks and tourism at Radford University in Radford, Virginia and moved to San Francisco in August after accepting the job.

“It’s really nice because I get to learn experiences beyond working at a restaurant or anything,” Penturff said. “I get nice field research experience which I get to practice before I go into a classroom and get a grade on it.”

Penturff will put together focus groups, contact participants and perform literature review after looking at the results of nation-wide surveys conducted by Amtrak.

Latkova said her team will bring on a second graduate student to help Penturff oversee the three undergraduates they hired to conduct on-board data collection later this year.

The research will help both Amtrak California and Caltrans improve customer service and increase ridership, according to Roberts.

“We are the research end for Amtrak California,” Jackson Wilson, assistant professor and co-principal investigator said. “We recently just completed data collection for a series of focus groups in six locations from Sacramento to San Diego.”

Wilson said their research will focus on the Capital Corridor rail that runs from the Bay Area to Sacramento, the San Joaquin rail, running from the Bay Area to Bakersfield, and the Pacific Surfliner rail, the tracks from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.

“For us, the faculty, it is wonderful to have (this) research project, always.” Latkova said. “But the opportunity to have a grad student, fully funded, that is even unique for our department so we’re just besides ourselves to be able to have the opportunity. And we hope to extend it for as long as we can and build on this research.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/30/amtrak-research-grad-student/feed/0Alumni remembered after deaths by Oakland firehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/29/oakland-fire-alumni/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/29/oakland-fire-alumni/#commentsMon, 30 Mar 2015 05:22:40 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64554When SF State alumnus Daniel “Moe” Thomas and his roommate Davis Letona walked into a room, friends said they brought a sense of tenderness and intellect with them. Those who knew them remember them for their creativity, intelligence, and immense love for other people.

Letona, 27, and Thomas, 36, were killed in a three-alarm blaze that ripped through two West Oakland apartment buildings on 24th Street on March 21, causing up to $1 million in estimated damages, according to Oakland Fire Chief Teresa Reed.

The two artists moved in together a couple of months prior to the fire, according to Thomas’ longtime friend Dave Mitchell.

Afton Love, Letona’s girlfriend of four years, said he was an exceptional human and a prolific writer.

“He was smart and creative, but it was more than that,” Love said. “He was tapped into a continuous current of inspiration. His mind was some kind of lucid sponge that absorbed, filtered and transformed the stuff of everyday life into art.”

Davis Letona sits to take a studio portrait. (Courtesy of Steve Heimovitz)

Longtime friend Alexander Ramos said that Letona’s main passion was cinema and that he would spend hours writing screenplays.

“He was a really hard working guy, and he knew what he wanted to do,” Ramos said.

Letona attended SF State in 2014 to study cinema before taking time off from school, according to his friend Elyse Weiner.

Thomas graduated from SF State in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in film before entering the Bay Area art scene.

The alumnus was a driven, intense and brutally honest person, according to Mitchell.

“He was fun to be around and he challenged people, was very argumentative and one of the smartest people I’ve known,” Mitchell said.

When Aaron Friedman first met Thomas at a 1999 Parkmerced party, he said he didn’t like him. The two later grew to be friends after being neighbors the following year.

“That first night, I didn’t think he would become one of my longtime friends, but I was wrong,” Friedman said. “Moe was the kind of person who didn’t care about what other people thought about him, and he didn’t care about fitting in.”

Memorial services for Letona were held at Chapel of the Chimes March 28 in Oakland. Ramos set up a GoFundMe page to go towards Letona’s memorial and family that as of March 29 has received more than $8,700 in donations.

The McLoughlin Gallery, where Thomas worked, held an event to showcase his work March 28 in San Francisco. Friends also gathered at Classic Cars West March 29 in Oakland to share stories and celebrate Thomas’ life.

Donations for his GoFundMe page will cover memorial expenses and build a scholarship fund for an art student in his honor .

Letona’s friend Tessa Love said that she is saddened that world will never get to see one of his films.

“He was a great and loyal friend and a truly beautiful person,” Tessa Love said. “We’re all devastated and with good reason. We lost someone so special.”

In the tiny space of their dorm room, band members Alec Kersenboom, Andrew Harley and Trevor Ramirez of Speakeasy, created a rock ‘n’ roll sound that flooded the halls of the Towers dormitory in between classes. Their distinctive sound and high energy landed them a debut show at The Depot and reeled in a crowd that was so pleased, an encore was demanded later at Malcolm X Plaza.

Drummer Ramirez, 20, vocalist and guitarist Kersenboom and bassist Harley, both 19, are from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and moved to San Francisco to attend SF State. The band mates said they didn’t identify with a particular genre; instead, they said their sound is a collective of them and artists before them.

“I don’t think we approach it in the sense of trying to fit into any genre,” Kersenboom said. “I’d say that we just take from all of our influences which is a lot of classic rock, old school, blues stuff, old folk music, stuff like that.”

While they have original songs, Speakeasy’s practices and live shows consist of many improvisational jams, a style they said just comes naturally to them.

“There’s no really set criteria,” Ramirez said. “We’ll just pick up on what each others playing and eventually it kind of takes its own course.”

Even though the group has not played at many venues, the band mates said their debut show at The Depot Feb. 25 is just the beginning. Their unique and powerful sound comes from more than musicianship and talent, but also the relationship they share with one another, according to the band.

“It’s about the connection between the three of us that allows us to create that,” Kersenboom said. “Everyone here knows that if I sat in to play with other guys, I wouldn’t get that connection.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/26/speakeasy-band-rock-n-roll/feed/0Gender equality needs male attentive silencehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/women-attentive-men/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/women-attentive-men/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 20:37:46 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64455Women’s History Month celebrates the historical impact of women and should be seen as an opportunity to teach men an important lesson: listen.

Coming from someone who was raised by a single mother, a few aunts and too many strong women to count, I learned women don’t need men to speak for them. I discovered through observation and discussion about how women communicate, emote and interact with each other and with men. However, unlike other uninformed individuals, I will never claim to be an expert on women.

During a Philosophic Issues in Sexuality course I took in the fall, male students were the main contributors in discussions focusing on gender and women issues. A Yale study on male versus female class participation noted that, out of all class exercise or event participants, men participated in class 57.2 percent while women participated 42.8 percent — even when adjusting for attendance.

The 10-year study also quoted a professor saying, “Men talk more regardless of how much they have to say.”

WNYC, a public radio station in New York and a NPR affiliate, aired a podcast Feb. 6 with Amelia Greenhall, executive director of Double Union, a San Francisco hacker space for women. Greenhall criticized technology entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa for being a self-proclaimed expert on women in the technology industry.

“What really gets me is that he’s taking up space and, like, sucking all the air of the room from this conversation about sexism in tech and gender issues in tech which is a really big deal,” Greenhall said. “And somebody who has any actual experience or something useful to say isn’t getting quoted.”

The podcast was removed after Wadhwa pointed out that he was not contacted for a comment.

Wadhwa is the latest male public figure to come under fire for speaking for women instead of listening to them.

While the WNYC producers’ journalistic practices may have been called into question, their target, Wadhwa, was correct because men cannot and should not be experts on women.

Wadhwa said in a Feb. 23 blog post, that he will remove himself from the debate on gender inequality and allow women to take the floor in light of the WNYC broadcast.

Even though I can understand Wadhwa’s intentions for advocating for a seemingly disadvantaged social group, knowledge about gender comes from first-hand experience and claiming to be an expert on women is unwanted.

The psychological, mental, structural and social characteristics of women are too complex for any man, including me, to fully explain on his own. Still, the only strategy to reduce the gap between men’s knowledge and women’s experience is an open line of communication.

For example, instructors should not continue class discourses without an equal amount of men and women participating to help create a culture where everyone participates and speaks equally. Men need to let women speak for themselves everywhere from the classroom to the workplace to see what it is like to live in a “man’s world” without any of the benefits. While important discourse on gender is necessary, one truth remains: To learn about women, men first need to listen.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/women-attentive-men/feed/0Gators softball continue to show offensive growth against Cal State Bernardinohttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/sfsu-cal-state-san-bernardino-softball/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/sfsu-cal-state-san-bernardino-softball/#commentsWed, 25 Mar 2015 15:43:58 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64428The Gators continued their trend of offensive improvement throughout a four game series against conference opponent Cal State San Bernardino, dropping a pair of games on Friday (0-5, 4-7) before splitting two games in Saturday’s double-header (3-2, 7-10).

A walk-off double from third baseman Lucy Fernandez bounced off the left field fence and drove in the winning run in 8th inning of Saturday’s win. Fernandez’s hit brought the Gators out on top of low-scoring pitcher’s duel that featured an outstanding performance from Gators’ ace Megan Clark.

“I was just trying to hit the ball as hard as I could,” said Fernandez, who went 5-for-10 on the series with four RBI’s. “My first at-bat wasn’t as strong so I was just trying to see the ball better.”

According to head coach Cristina Byrne the weekend’s games collectively marked the team’s best offensive performance of the year.

“That was the best hitting we’ve done this year,” Byrne said.”We made game-to-game adjustments and had their pitchers throwing a lot of pitches which is always a good thing. We took advantage of base runners and good pitch counts. That’s really what you’re looking for.”

Junior shortstop Jennifer Lewis scores in game two of a doubleheader against Cal State San Bernardino at SFSU Softball Field Friday, March 20 (David Henry / Xpress)

Catcher Sara Higa had a monster stretch of games at the plate, going 5-for-12 with five RBI’s. Four of her hits were for extra bases and included her first career home run, a two-run shot in the sixth inning of Saturday’s second game.

“The home run felt really good,” Higa said. “I hit the wall in the at-bat before that and a couple of other times so it was great that it went over. I was just trying to stay calm up there.”

The Gators will host Western Oregon University in a double-header on Wednesday, before traveling to Turlock for an out-of-conference tournament next weekend.

“This next week is kind of like a season within a season,” Byrne said. I think it’ll be great for us to have a new goal. Chasing after a tournament championship and getting away from conference play can give us new life in the middle of a long season.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/25/sfsu-cal-state-san-bernardino-softball/feed/0Equal attention vital for lives lost in recent shootingshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/23/chapel-hill-media/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/23/chapel-hill-media/#commentsMon, 23 Mar 2015 22:33:31 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=63912The murder of three Muslim students in North Carolina by their neighbor, a white male with vocal anti-theist leanings, instantly alarmed those in the Arab American community. But early coverage demonstrated indifference to the crime, and it took hours of social media users questioning media intentions until news outlets across the country started broadcasting details of the triple murder.

After the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and subsequent decisions by a state jury and the U.S. Department of Justice to not indict Officer Darren Wilson, #BlackLivesMatter became a rallying cry of justice for Brown and now Georgian Anthony Hill, who was also unarmed. Likewise, in the aftermath of the Chapel Hill shooting last month, the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter became a powerful amendment to #BlackLivesMatter and intersected the experiences of both groups fighting for similar causes.

The emergence of #BlackLivesMatter, #LatinoLivesMatter and #MuslimLivesMatter–calling for equal attention to lives lost at the hand of bigotry–begs the question: How much longer will non-whites have to prove their worth in this ‘melting pot’ of a country?

Local authorities declared a long-standing parking dispute as Craig Stephen Hicks’ motive to barge into their home and shoot them each in the head. If the roles were reversed, surely the phrase ‘terrorist attack’ would be plastered in every corner of mainstream coverage and politics.

The hypocrisy also shows through the death of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Their humanity went on trial before anything else, with questions like “why was Brown jaywalking?” and “why was Martin out at night with his hoodie on?” more present than “why did local authorities let an untrained yet armed Zimmerman patrol a residential area?”

But the deaths of Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, her new husband Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, all of Palestinian descent, didn’t fit a typical narrative. Three Muslim college students involved in charity work attacked in their homes by an anti-theist–who they once described to their family as hateful and noted that he had gun when they spoke–somehow didn’t ring many media alarms until it was deemed interesting enough.

Hicks has already been indicted for the murders and federal authorities have launched a separate investigation, but hate crimes are notoriously hard to prove. That leaves the correct number of attacks on someone’s race, religion, sexual orientation or identity unknown and difficult to truly acknowledge the problem.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports, hate crimes against Muslims in America still occur at around 100-150 per year, or 5 times greater than the rate before 9/11. In addition, those wearing hijabs have reportedly been afraid to continue displaying their faith in fear of being targeted.

Ahmed al-Jumaili, a Muslim man who escaped the violence of his native Iraq for peace in America, was fatally shot on March 4 at random within a month of arriving in Dallas while watching snow fall for the first time. No arrests have been made.

While it’s easier to argue over the color of a dress than why a white man barged into the home of three young Muslim people and shot them in the head, it’s a conversation that must be had—and that the media has the power to fuel. News outlets can either understand the messages amplified on social media and consistently draw equal attention to these lives stolen by racial and religious stereotyping or end up on the wrong side of history.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/23/chapel-hill-media/feed/1University under federal investigation for handling of sexual assaulthttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/21/under-investigation-title-ix/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/21/under-investigation-title-ix/#commentsSat, 21 Mar 2015 21:47:41 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64374The Office for Civil Rights added SF State to a list Wednesday that will include them with 104 college campuses under investigation for their handling of sexual violence.

The federal examination at SF State for a pending Title IX investigation was opened March 10, according to the OCR. Title IX is federal law that requires all public school that receive government funds to prohibit sex discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual violence.

The office opens an investigation into a school’s handling of sexual violence after a compliant is brought forward to the agency, according to its Complaint Processing Procedures.

News of the federal investigation at SF State comes one week after the University Police Department received a string of indecent exposure reports in Parkmerced and University Park North. The sexual battery of a woman in between Burk Hall and the Student Health Center was also reported to UPD in early February.

SF State is one of 10 California colleges being investigated by the OCR, including University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University.

The OCR is responsible for addressing discrimination complaints within all public schools and educational establishments that receive funds from the U.S. Department of Education. Discrimination “on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age” are barred from schools in any form, including areas of admissions, financial aid, housing and athletics, according to the OCR website. Schools must also work to stop sexual violence and sex discrimination in schools under the Title IX policy.

The U.S. Department of Education first released the list of higher institutions under investigation for mishandling of sexual assault May 1, 2014 in response to the creation of the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, which focuses on decreasing sexual assault on college campuses.

If the OCR finds that SF State has violated Title IX policy, the school must act to solve any issues identified by the agency, according to the OCR. Failing to do so could result in the loss of federal funding or a referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.

SF State officials could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/21/under-investigation-title-ix/feed/0Founder’s Day celebration rooted with floatshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/19/founders-day-1899-sfsu/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/19/founders-day-1899-sfsu/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 23:31:16 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64336A line of students snaked across the quad near Malcolm X Plaza Wednesday as the University handed out 1,899 free root beer floats in honor of the University’s Founders Day.

SF State celebrates Founders Day, a holiday commemorating the Establishment of the University in 1899. This year SF State provided complimentary soda floats to students in honor of the school’s founders. Students line up for their free floats at Malcolm X plaza Wednesday, March 18. (Helen Tinna / Xpress)

SF State originated as the San Francisco State Normal School, a small women-only teaching academy on Powell Street in March 1899. The school was decimated in the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires and underwent several location, accreditation and name changes before metamorphosing into the California State University it is today.

Founders Day celebrates both the anniversary of SF State’s founding and those transformations. This year, the occasion was toasted with root beer floats while an acoustic jazz quartet serenaded the crowd.

Business management major Marco Ybanez, who relaxed on the lawn with friends in front of Malcolm X Plaza, said he appreciated the event.

“It’s a good way to give back to students,” Ybanez said. “A simple little treat to make this day known, to keep students in remembrance of our school’s founders.”

The floats were donated by campus eatery Taqueria Girasol, which has consistently supported Founders Day festivities. Last year, the business gave away 1,899 tacos in honor of the event.

“It’s little known how giving (Taqueria Girasol) is to the University,” said Doug Hupke, the director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving at SF State, who spearheaded the event as a way to increase campus spirit.
Hermanos Unidos, a student group dedicated to the advancement of young Latino males into academic scholars, community leaders and young professionals, helped assemble and pass out the floats.

“They invited us to participate last year and we thought it was a great opportunity for student organizations to show their Gator pride and contribute to the University,” said Hermanos Unidos president and Associated Students, Inc. Vice President of Finance Luis De Paz. “We are a student organization that is proud to be here at SFSU and we enjoy helping out and giving back to our community and campus.”

Before 2014, more than 10 years had lapsed in Founders Day campus celebrations before students celebrated SF State’s Centennial birthday with 100 feet of sheet cake.

In another symbol of camaraderie, renderings of a proposed 10-foot bronze alligator statue, designed by artist and professor emeritus Leonard Hunter, were on display during the event. If plans are approved, funding for the statue will most likely come in the form of a combination of alumni donations and fundraising efforts, according to Hupke.

The event marked the midway point of the Founders Day Challenge, which encourages the campus community to honor SF State’s heritage by making a donation in support of its future.

Students, faculty, alumni, family and friends were invited to help the Alumni Association reach its goal of raising $30,000 March 16-22. Last year’s goal of 1,899 individual donations was well surpassed, according to Hupke. Donors can choose to support scholarships or the college, department or program of their choice.

“Whether you are an SF native or a student from Southern or Northern California, SFSU is that one place that will always have an impact in our lives,” De Paz said. “This university is full of history, tradition and culture. It is time for us the students to recognize that and Founders Day is one way to celebrate all of this.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/19/founders-day-1899-sfsu/feed/0Dean of the College of Science and Engineering to step down after 13 yearshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/19/dean-sheldon-axler-steps-down/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/19/dean-sheldon-axler-steps-down/#commentsThu, 19 Mar 2015 18:46:36 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64326The dean for the College of Science and Engineering will step down from his position after 13 years and make way for an engineering professor from the Midwest to take his spot.

Sheldon Axler served as dean of the college for more than a decade and will vacate the position after the spring semester. Instead of retiring, Axler will continue to teach math at SF State, he said.

“There are more books I want to write, there’s more research I want to do,” Axler said. “Everything is going well, I think it’s just that there are other things that I want to do.”

Keith Bowman, the chair of the mechanical materials and aerospace engineering department at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, will take over as dean during the summer. Bowman taught at IIT for four years after working at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana for 23 years.

The current dean of the College of Science and Engineering Sheldon Axler stands in the office which will be taken over by his successor in the summer at his office in Robert A. Thornton Hall at SF State Monday, March 16. (Hyunha Kim / Xpress)

“I’m hoping that the time between now and mid-summer goes by very quickly because I’m really looking forward to this opportunity and it’s really very exciting for me,” Bowman said.

Axler’s colleagues have praised his implementation of research programs into the college of science and engineering.

“Dean Axler has been a champion for student research and that really pushed our faculty hiring, retention and promotion center on student research and also faculty research,” said Christopher Wenshen Pong, director and professor at the school of engineering.

Pong said Axler advocated for students to conduct hands-on research in the field.

“We don’t believe that students are going to learn science simply by sitting in a classroom listening to lectures,” Axler said. “They have to get involved with projects and research projects. Everything indicates that student research is really good for students.”

Physics and astronomy professor Jeff Greensite also credited the college’s progressive research program to Axler and said he has been a very supportive dean.

“Sheldon is a hard act to follow,” Greensite said. “He’s been a pleasure to work with.”

Bowman said he hopes to incorporate his research on retention rates of female engineering students and understand how students generally learn science, math and engineering during his time at SF State.

Despite relinquishing his title as dean, Axler said he is far from finished with his work at SF State. He said he has initiated plans to construct a new science building and wishes to continue to be a part of the growing science and engineering community.

“I’m delighted that he’s accepted the position,” Axler said of Bowman. “I think he’ll be a terrific dean and I look forward to working with him.”

A woman and her 5-year-old daughter were walking through the crosswalk at 20th Avenue and Buckingham Way when they were struck by a woman’s car as she drove into the shopping center, according to San Francisco Police Department Capt. Curtis Lum.

Police interview an elderly woman who struck a mother and daughter in front of The City Sports Club at the Stonestown Galleria Wednesday, March 18. (Helen Tinna / Xpress)

The mother sustained minor injuries in the incident while the child’s injuries were more severe, Lum said.

“They’ve both been taken to the hospital,” Lum said.

The driver, an 86-year-old woman driving a white Toyota RAV4, said she experienced chest pains after the accident, but declined medical treatment.

Officers noted a dent on the left corner panel of the vehicle. The the driver was unable to confirm if it was a result of the accident.

Officers blocked off the street in front of City Sports Club to incoming traffic and pedestrians while investigators arrived at the scene.

Trader Joe’s employee Cornelius Jones said he was in the area during the collision and didn’t notice the crash itself but saw the aftermath of the accident. He said the conductor of the car stayed in her vehicle after the collision until police arrived.

“She just pulled to the side and sat there,” Jones said. “The police went over there and started talking to her.”

A large crack rang out in the small classroom in the Science Building as the 5-foot-tall wooden tower toppled from seismic vibration. The students who made the structure moaned in unison as their first attempt to build an earthquake resistant tower failed.

The tower, built entirely from balsa wood and glue, is a senior project made by the SeismiGators, a group of civil engineering students who for over the past year have been researching and testing tower designs to see how they measure up against the force of an earthquake.

After their first tower failed during the seismic test, the team identified the mistakes and missed opportunities and have built a brand new tower.

The SeismiGators’ new tower will compete against more than 30 other college teams in the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s Twelfth Annual Undergraduate Design Competition in Boston March 31-April 3.

Teams at the competition will test the structural integrity of their model buildings on an earthquake simulator, which is a small platform that shakes horizontally in multiple directions. Thirty extra pounds of weight will be added to the structure to simulate the weight of people, furniture and other systems involved with a real building.

Project advisor and assistant professor of civil engineering Zhaoshuo Jiang is hopeful for the design but spotlights the entire process as a learning benefit to the students.

“To me the outcome is the not the most important thing,” Jiang said. “The process of doing this competition is the most important thing.”

Before any adhesive is applied to the wood, the SeismiGators modeled and tested a rendering of the building in SAP2000, a structural and earthquake engineering software.

Different designs were tested and vetted until the group was happy with a final design, said Aimee Sylvia, who runs the group’s website. The finished product resulted from a process of distilling the group’s favorite designs to fit the rules of the competition.

Pieces were then drawn up in 3D-modeling software and a laser cutter on campus was used to cut the balsa wood, a lightweight wood also known as ochroma pyramidale that the competition rules required for the building material.

Fitting and gluing the pieces together was the most time-consuming part of the building process.

Teams of four people worked on the tower in two- hour shifts on days that worked best with their schedules. “Even though you want to take your day off or something, no,” Vasquez said. “You have to be here, you have to do this and put your hours into it.”

Through the countless hours of hard work, the students said they are proud of what they have accomplished.

“It’s difficult to describe, but it’s definitely a labor of love,” Sylvia said.

(Drake Newkirk / Xpress)

Chris Sanchez (left) and Fiorella Vasquez (right) hold down wooden beams to ensure the glue dries properly during construction of the balsa wood tower in the Science building at SF State Tuesday, March 10.

Fiorella Vasquez holds down a wooden beam of the balsa wood tower to ensure it glues properly in the Science building at SF State Tuesday, March 10.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/seismi-gators-eartquake-design/feed/0Annual conference promotes equality and empowerment for womenhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/fourth-annual-womens-conference/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/fourth-annual-womens-conference/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 08:05:39 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64273A former leader for the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panthers Party and political prisoner for her involvement with the group shared her experience and wisdom March 14 at the 4th Annual Women’s Conference organized by Associated Students, Inc.

Ericka Huggins spoke to the 300 audience members at the conference in Jack Adams Hall to join her in a discussion of equality and empowerment. She examined race, gender issues and her personal experience with social justice activism.

“I think we are afraid of having conversations where we will be critiqued or where someone is vulnerable because of their ignorance,” Huggins said. “We need to talk about everything if we are going to talk about anything. We have a collective wisdom that is profound.”

Huggins was invited to speak by the director of the Women’s Center, senior Shani Winston, who said Huggins’ experience and message fit perfectly with the conference’s theme, Empowered Women Empower Women. Winston first attended the event three years ago and has organized it for the past two years.

“This conference is an event that changed my life,” Winston said. “It made me realize a lot about myself and society, it opened my mind. I want people to open their minds and work together at the conference.”

The conference was composed of speakers, a discussion panel, workshops and a closing ceremony. Activities and educational workshops provided information about violence against transgender women of color, journaling through yoga and igniting women in politics.

Huggins said that current systems in place in the world are inherently old and biased by race and gender. She said it was important to create an open and honest dialogue to address injustices that women and minorities face.

Taking the initiative to conduct research and discuss important issues was essential, Huggins said. She emphasized the importance of eliminating labels and stereotypes and working together across different causes.

“I’m not only African-American, I am a woman,” Huggins said. “I’m not only that, a woman is my partner, and not only that, I’m a mom, a grandmother, a sociologist, a teacher and a meditator. All of these things are a part of me and we look at human beings in little boxes and our causes tend to be in boxes as well.”

Volunteer Julio Leyva said he appreciated how truthful and easy it was to understand Huggins’ message.

“I liked how she said if you are really passionate about something, you need to be visible and stand up,” Leyva said.

Sophomore Onyeomachi Okoro volunteered at the event for this first time this year and said she was excited to be involved with the conference.

“Through all the adversity we face, it’s great seeing there are still women willing to put themselves at the forefront of important issues,” Okoro said.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/fourth-annual-womens-conference/feed/0HIV survivor shares personal story in hopes to educatehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/gladys-gizzys-story/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/gladys-gizzys-story/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 07:53:38 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64267W hen Gladys “Gizzy” Somarriba found out she tested positive for HIV in January of 2013, she immediately worried about what her family would think of her.

“I told my mom over a text message, asking her if she would still love me,” Somarriba said. “I was crying hysterically, I was embarrassed. I didn’t want her to hate me. When I called to tell my dad, he hung up on me.”

Shortly after being diagnosed, Somarriba experienced a state of depression that led her to cut herself in self-mutilation. It was through the help of antidepressants and the creation of her Facebook page “Gizzy’s Story” that Somarriba was able to cope with her disease and help educate others.

“I know I’m helping other women through my page because they reach out to me,” Somarriba said. “If I can stop at least one person from having unprotected sex or if I can encourage at least one person to go out and get tested then I feel it is all worth it.”

Somarriba decided to get tested after finding suspicious emails on her ex-boyfriend’siPad. Somarriba had discovered him texting another girl in the past and after seeing his response to another man’s Craigslist advertisement about a “back massage,” Somarriba considered the need to get tested.

Her boyfriend was sitting in the room next her when the nurse gave her the diagnosis. She said she knew it was her ex who infected her, but thought it was by accident. It was through social media that she discovered that her ex-boyfriend had been born with the disease and had known about it the entire time they dated

“I just felt like everything was over,” Somarriba said. “I didn’t want to accept that the man I fell in love with and planned a future with knowingly infected me.”

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was commemorated March 10. Of the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV in the U.S., one in four are women, according to Greater Than’s website. Somarriba was 29 years old when she was diagnosed.

“To me, everyday is HIV awareness day,” she said.

In March, close to her one-year anniversary of living with HIV, Somarriba created a Facebook page to share with the public her story of seroconversion. Somarriba said she was motivated by the difficulty in finding an HIV/AIDS support group where she felt comfortable. When she revealed the truth about her infection to a support group for battered women at Kaiser Permanente, they told her that she did not look like someone who had HIV.

“I realized that even though we are in the 21st Century, people still think HIV has a face,” Somarriba said. “HIV can happen to anyone.”

SF State Peer Educators Advocating Campus Health volunteer Alec Santos said part of the stigma some people have with the disease is having a misunderstanding of the distinction between HIV and AIDS.

“Gizzy’s boyfriend may have infected her with HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus,” said Santos. “It is a virus that causes the progressive failure of the immune system causing a space for opportunistic viruses to thrive.”

Gladys Somarriba poses for a portrait in front of 2nd and Market in downtown San Francisco. March 17, 2015. (Angelica Ekeke / Xpress)

The P.E.A.C.H program provides HIV/AIDS education in various ways, ranging from in-depth workshops that are either done in the Student Health Services Conference Room or in classrooms around campus if requested, Santos said.

“In regard to Gizzy and her boyfriend, that is a very sad and unethical situation,” he said. “By the state of California, people are mandated to inform their sexual partner of any infectious diseases that may be carrying. If someone who does have a virus and transmits said virus knowingly, the transmission is considered a misdemeanor.”

Somarriba’s Facebook page inspired film students Tucker Morgan and Diana Chen to create a short documentary about how she was able to cope with the virus by sharing her story online and educating others.

Morgan and Chen, who took a Bay Area Video Coalition documentary and community off-campus class offered by SF State, were given an assignment to profile someone in the community, and Morgan thought “Gizzy’s Story” was one that needed to be shared.

“I really admired Gizzy’s bravery,” Morgan said. “And making the film was kind of a way that I could support her and what she was doing.”

Chen said she was so moved by the film that she entered it in the 54th annual SF state film finals while Morgan uploaded the film to YouTube.

Although Somarriba said she has received a lot of feedback and support for sharing her story, she has also received criticism, including a response from one woman who accused her of lying about her disease.

“I have tons of people question my story and I don’t understand why people think I would lie,” Somarriba said. “Who would want to be known as the girl with HIV? This isn’t a lifetime movie, this is my life and I’m not getting money from this or book deals. I wish I was lying. I wish it wasn’t true.”

Somarriba said that despite having to deal with a lot of negativity and even receiving a restraining order from her ex-boyfriend after reveling his identity online, the positive feedback has outweighed the bad.

She participates in the AIDS Walk every year and her ultimate goal is to become a guest speaker and share her story with young girls. She said she would like to eventually start her own HIV/AIDS foundation for women.

“I would love for it to be a huge organization,” Somarriba said. “But even it’s just a weekly meeting in my living room where women can gather and support one another, I’ll be happy.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/gladys-gizzys-story/feed/8Other victims come forward after suspect arrestedhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/arrests-news-indecent-exposure/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/arrests-news-indecent-exposure/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 07:34:40 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64262A total of six victims have come forward to the University Police Department in connection to a suspect arrested in Park Merced Thursday for multiple counts of indecent exposure, according to University officials.

UPD officers arrested Kaine Sinclair near campus March 12 after they witnessed the suspect exposing himself to a woman, according Deputy Chief Reggie Parson, commanding officer for UPD’s Investigations Division.

“The case is being investigated by the UPD,” Parson said in an email. “The UPD has increased our patrols and augmented our patrol techniques.”

The officers apprehended 19-year-old Sinclair at 3:43 p.m. and took him into custody, according to the University’s crime log.

Sinclair, who is not affiliated with the University, has been linked to an another reported incident of indecent exposure that took place March 9 in Park Merced, according to a Clery alert sent out to students March 13.

Sinclair’s case is ongoing and charges are pending, Parson said.

Students received a second alert of indecent exposure that occurred in University Park North March 11. A woman reportedly saw an unknown man who exposed himself to her at 4:10 p.m. while driving a blue car on Buckingham Way.

The suspect reportedly masturbated inside his vehicle while he drove by, according to the University police crime log. Sinclair was not connected to the March 11 incident on Buckingham Way, according to Parson.

Sinclair’s arrest capped off a string of Clery alerts from the University last week.

Biology major Enxhi Tahiraj said she appreciates the updates from the University regarding incidents on and around campus, but thinks there is a chance some incidents go unreported because some victims are uncomfortable with going to the police.

“If more people are reporting it you feel like you’re not alone,” Tahiraj said.

Tahiraj said that she’s happy UPD arrested a suspect, but wishes more would be done to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.

“It feels better, but at the same time I wish there was more protection because I don’t see a lot of security around school,” Tahiraj said. “I feel previous semesters they were a bit more protective, but this semester I rarely see security or police at school.”

Senior Maddie Pop was impressed with how quickly UPD responded and apprehended Sinclair. Pop said she agreed that there needs to be more done to prevent incidents like the one reported that took place March 9.

Throughout the U.S., public four-year colleges reported a total of 17 non-forcible sex offenses in 2013, according to a database of campus crime statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Although there has been a recent surge of indecent exposures at SF State, in 2013 there were zero reported non-forcible sex offenses from any of the Bay Area public four-year colleges, the report stated.

There have been five indecent exposure reports between March 9 and March 15, according to the campus crime map available on the school’s website. Parson confirmed at least six victims tied to Sinclair, four of them taking place near the intersection of Arballo and Pinto drives where Sinclair was apprehended.

Police have not located a suspect in the indecent exposure case reported March 11 at UPN.

UPD recommended students and staff take advantage of the Campus Alliance for a Risk-Free Environment escort program to minimize personal risk while on campus. Students can call (415) 338-7200 to schedule an escort.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/arrests-news-indecent-exposure/feed/0Crucial Selma activist disagrees with film accuracyhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/colia-lafayette-clark-selma/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/colia-lafayette-clark-selma/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 07:20:27 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64256Colia Lafayette Clark, a leader in the fight to gain voter rights for African-Americans in Selma, Alabama, shared her first-hand experiences at SF State as part of a national tour to discuss the movement on March 10.

While speaking with students during the event, which fell on the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march, Clark criticized the recently released motion film “Selma.”

The film, which depicts the events in Selma from 1964 to 1965, debuted in the U.S. December 2014. Selma won both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture.

Clark said she refuses to watch the film because neither she nor her husband were consulted for the production even though they initiated the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee project at Selma and were crucial figures in the movement.

“Whenever you’re talking about doing a historical film, you can’t do it without some fiction, but you can do a historical film without lies,” Clark said. “You can have fictional characters and incidents, but you don’t need lies.”

Clark, who was 22-years-old at the time of the march, said the film focuses on older individuals who were involved in the movement and gives only a small glimpse into the vital work contributed by the young students involved in SNCC.

Colia Layfette Clark speaks to students, teachers and community members in the Pierre Coste Room at CCSF Tuesday, March 10. (Marlene Sanchez / Xpress)

As members of the SNCC, Clark worked alongside the Dallas County Voters League in the years leading up to the famous march. The groups held citizenship classes to help African-Americans prepare for the literacy test required for voter registration.

Clark said that SNCC’s organizing efforts were necessary because of the economic intimidation and violence that African-Americans in the South faced when working to gain voter rights. Of the 15,115 eligible African-Americans in Dallas County, only 130 of them were registered to vote, according to a 1961 Civil Rights Commission report.

Lloyd Pitts of the San Francisco Student Union organized Clark’s speech at SF State and felt the 50th anniversary of Selma was relevant to students and current civil rights issues still faced today.

“With movies, there is history and there is tradition and what tradition we are taught doesn’t always line up,” Pitts said as he introduced Clark. “So it’s good to have a person here who is so foundational in the movement and has pure historical perspective.”

Despite the film’s recognition, Clark said she was not impressed with the motion picture based on what she has heard. She said she perceives the film as an inaccurate depiction of the events that occurred in the years that led up to the march.

SF State graduate student Anthony Palmer worked with the San Francisco Student Union and other organizations to bring Clark to campus because he said he felt her input on that aspect of history and the film is important to showcase.

“Yeah, maybe their portrayal (in the film) wasn’t so great,” Palmer said. “But the Legislative victories that the movement won can’t be taken away by a movie.”

Even though Clark said her experiences were not accurately represented in the motion film, she is still optimistic about the concept of activism and hopes to inspire students to continue with their efforts.

“When you begin to see Selma, know that only will you, the young people, be the ones who will start the demonstrations,” Clark said.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/18/colia-lafayette-clark-selma/feed/0Professor discovers link between cold temperature and weight losshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/cold-diet-weight-loss/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/cold-diet-weight-loss/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 05:07:18 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64248While most people consider dieting to be cutting out their favorite desserts or juice fasting with only fruit and vegetables, scientists are buzzing about the latest and possibly most extreme weight-loss regimen called cold diet, where one exposes themselves to below-freezing temperatures to shiver away the weight.

Good Morning America reporter Becky Worley published an investigative video segment last month exploring the practice of thermal dieting. To test the regiment, Worley stood in a chamber that blew cold air on her damp skin, sat in a tub filled with ice cubes and walked through the snow wearing nothing more than a T-shirt and running shorts.

The team at Good Morning America visited SF State professor of kinesiology Matt Lee on campus to quantify the results of Worley’s resting metabolic rate and estimate her caloric output while wearing a vest lined with ice packs.

The idea behind the diet plan relies on acute exposure to the cold that stimulates brown fat, which is stored and burned to maintain the body’s constant internal temperature, Worley said.

“I would be hesitant to recommend cold exposure as a method for weight loss,” Lee said. “This is all kind of new so there’s a lot of questions, experimentation that research has yet to answer. It’s no replacement for exercise by any means.”

In a 20-minute experiment, Worley burned 1.5 kilo calories per minute with the vest in comparison to the 1.4 kilo calories she burned without the vest, indicating about 7 to 8 percent rate of change, according to Lee’s readings. This estimate projects that she could burn about 18 calories per day while wearing the vest.

Scientists began studying brown fat in the1960s when researchers at the University of Ottawa sought to determine how small animals could survive harsh winters while hibernating.

Then in 2009, scientists from the Massachusetts Medical Society discovered evidence that activating brown fat could play a role in adult metabolism and weight loss.

University of California, Irvine science professor Wayne Hayes invented the Cold Shoulder ice vest that Worley wore in the video. Hayes said he was displeased with the way his product was portrayed because the reporter used the vest once, rather than over an extended period of time.

“The Good Morning America piece swung its perspective more negatively and cherry-picked incomplete pieces of evidence making its effectiveness seem skeptical,” Hayes said.

The vest is advertised to burn 500 calories per day. Hayes said he developed this estimate by conducting an informal clinical trial over the course of four weeks. In his experiment, Hayes documented his weight loss results for two weeks without wearing the vest, then two weeks with the vest, while keeping close track of his caloric intake.

During the weeks he wore the vest, Hayes lost one pound per week. He divided 3500 calories, or one pound of fat, by the seven days of the week he wore the vest, giving him an estimate of 500 calories burned per day. For best results, Hayes recommended wearing the vest twice a day for 60 to 90 minutes each session.

Hayes tested the Cold Shoulder on science colleague Nick Hamilton, who over a training period of 14 weeks used the product during the final two. Along with diet and exercise, Hamilton maintained a consistent percentage of body fat after losing 0.8 percent throughout the entire course of his training. Comparatively, the Cold Shoulder produced the loss of a full one percent of body fat during its implementation, Hamilton said.

Hamilton also tried other cold diet methods, such as cold exposure, which involved taking walks out in the cold and cold immersion in a bath full of iced water. After 50 days, Hamilton was able to fully immerse his body in the bath. However, he noted that neither freezing baths nor chilly walks were as convenient as wearing the Cold Shoulder.

“Think of it as another tool in your arsenal,” Hamilton said. “There are definitely benefits to constant exposure, but it’s a steady progression that works best in combination with exercise and good nutrition.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/cold-diet-weight-loss/feed/1Cinema student rolls his way to success with skateboard brandhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/freakwency-sam-gershwin/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/freakwency-sam-gershwin/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 04:52:51 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64243At 17 years old, Sam Gershwin watched intently over his father’s shoulder as his experienced hands moved over the canadian maple to fashion Gershwin’s first home-pressed skateboard. As a woodworking craftsman, Gershwin’s father showed him the ins and outs of pressing his own boards in their garage at home. What started as a hobby, soon flourished into a business model that incorporated Gershwin’s love of all things skate.

Now 19, cinema major Gershwin has channeled his creative energy into building a burgeoning skate brand called Freakwency. Along with fellow SF State students Tyler Stojack, Mycah Williams and long-time friend Andrew Rainbolt, Gershwin and his crew said they are establishing a name for themselves in the San Francisco skate scene.

“Skating is my absolute passion,” Gershwin said. “I started Freakwency because I want to be happy doing what I love most.”

Gershwin moved from Thousand Oaks to San Francisco with the dream of studying cinematography and immersing himself in the city’s robust skate culture. After his first semester at SF State, Gershwin said he was more motivated than ever to find a professional manufacturer to continue Freakwency beyond his workshop garage.

Over a six-month period, his original supply order of 72 skateboards has dwindled down to four. Along with selling his products in person, Gershwin established a business relationship with the owners of Park Plaza Fine Foods, who distribute his boards to the SF State skate community.

Mark Khoury, co-owner of the Park Merced convenience store, said he was pleased with Freakwency’s sales.

“A lot of kids recognize his boards in the store,” Khoury said. “I’ve even put in another order with Sam so we can continue selling his product here.”

Gershwin is working on getting his boards into San Francisco skate shops like Mission Skate and DLXSF on Market Street. With 20 years of experience in the skate industry, DLXSF buyer and manager Matt Cantor has seen most new skate companies take three to five years to define their direction, establish a presence and gain recognition.

Sam Gershwin, a SF State cinema major and the owner of skate company Freakwency, stops for a portrait at the lowledge; a popular skate spot across from the West Campus Green on Monday, March. 16, 2015. (Kate Fraser / Xpress)

“What Sam’s doing is rad,” Cantor said. “He has a lot to think about when it comes to making his brand stand out, but that’ll come with time as he develops a style in his conceptual endeavors.”

From getting shaken off the back of a Prius while hitching a ride to being chased down by a bulletproof vest-clad security guard, Stojack said some of his favorite memories with his skate crew involved causing mischief while shredding in the city.

“The best part about being in the Freakwency skate crew has been filming with my friends,” Stojack said. “It doesn’t feel like a chore. We bring the camera everywhere we go and film whatever tricks we’re working on that day.”

Their upcoming video, “Get Yo Freak On!” will feature footage of the Freakwency crew’s antics, highlighting the elements of fun and spontaneity that Gershwin said he wants to emulate as the foundation of his brand.

“I like watching skate videos where it’s obvious all the skaters are friends,” Gershwin said. “That’s what I’m doing with ‘Get Your Freak On!’ It shows our personalities and skate style, which is a big part of familiarizing people with our crew.”

In addition to the video that will be released in October, Gershwin has several smaller projects in the works, including a new graphic design that will be released on March 21.

“Freakwency and skating are pretty much all I think about,” Gershwin said. “This is what I want to do with my life. I want to continue doing what I want to do on my own terms and being my creative self, and I hope that I can make it doing just that.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/freakwency-sam-gershwin/feed/0Current generation perceived incorrectly in mediahttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/millennials-generations-misconceived/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/millennials-generations-misconceived/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 04:25:29 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64241My generation does not define me, nor does it hold truths for who I am and what I stand. Every time I have browsed through the Internet in the past few months, I have come upon a study, article or explanation of why my generation is the most stupid, selfish and entitled generation of all time. People in their late teens and 20s are considered the “selfie” or the “me, me, me” generation. We are illustrated as individuals who are self-obsessed with the image and the broadcasting of our lives through social media. Quite frankly, I disagree with all of it.

Our generation is perceived differently because of technology, time, historic events and how the world has changed around us. The people who were raised in the new millennium don’t want to be selfish. We just grew up in a world that revolves around the technology and social media that helps broadcast our daily lives on the Internet.

Young adults today face job challenges in a world of brutal recession where machines and technology have replaced physical jobs. Although we are viewed as an “incompetent generation,” we have succeeded in life priorities, optimistic viewpoints and our competency with technology compared with previous generations, according to a Pew Research Center study released in 2010. The study also shows we are the most liberal group, accepting all individuals for whom they are and what life choices they decide to make. We strive to be technologically savvy and we are constantly improving the set of skills that are misunderstood by previous generations.

An article recently released by the Huffington Post looks at the test scores of Millennials, calling us some of the least skilled people compared to test results of students from 23 other countries. This article was written without taking into account we have been referred to as the most educated generation in the history of America and we have the credentials to show it.

The low-skill ranking is not because of a lack of education. It is because Millennials are heading in a different path with regards to curriculum. Where we once took classes on literature and history, this generation now focuses on data, social media and the advances of technology. When most generations before us ended their education after high school, we strive for more through numerous years of continued higher education, honing in on the skills we do possess.

Our generation is about the innovation of connecting through the Internet and other means of technology. The Internet takes away from face-to-face interaction with loved ones, but most seem to overlook the bright side of this technology. We are completely plugged in to those living near and far–friends, family and the world–making connections with a click of a mouse.

Debating which generation is the most intelligent is an absurd argument. Every generation has its pros and cons, often inspired by what is going on during their time of youth and young adulthood. The successes and failures of a generation should not be a competition or an invitation for insults, but rather a time of realization of knowing that the human race continues to grow and succeed in ways we previously could not. At the end of the day, Millennials are making progress for a better future for all of us, not just the “selfie” generation.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/millennials-generations-misconceived/feed/0Veteran on track to break into All-time hits record listhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/courtney-gravel-all-time-hits/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/courtney-gravel-all-time-hits/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 04:14:11 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64232P awing at the dirt with the spikes of her cleat and scanning the field over thick stripes of eye black, SF State’s standout shortstop enters the batter’s box in similar fashion before each at-bat. Her posture screams confidence but still maintains the torturous touch of calmness that unsettles pitchers and edges defenders onto their toes in anticipation. Even the white and purple helmet perched on her head seems in sync with the protruding blonde ponytail that whips around her shoulders as she takes off for first base.

Simply put, it’s not hard to pick out Courtney Gravel for the prolific senior standout that she is.

“Her demeanor is calm and focused and she doesn’t let anything or any situation get to her.” said SF State’s head coach Christina Byrne. “I’ve received so many compliments from opposing coaches about her and the way that she plays.”

A quick flash of Gravel’s bright green eyes can say more than she cares to, exhibiting resolve, disappointment and frustration all within the course of a single afternoon on the softball field. According to Coach Byrne, however, her all-conference shortstop’s quiet demeanor does not prevent her from helping her teammates perform well on the field.

“Courtney is reliable, competitive, and leads by example,” Byrne said. “She is quiet and unassuming in stature but she plays big. It has been an extreme pleasure coaching someone like Courtney and after four years with her, I wish I could have another four.”

SF State’s softball player Courtney Gravel, senior, takes a break for a few moments as she prepares for the teams doubleheader Friday, March 13, 2015 (Angelica Williams / Xpress)

The statistics on Gravel show her to be devastating at the plate and consistently so. She’s never batted under .300 in a season and has started nearly every game as the Gators’ shortstop since her 2012 freshman season. Her 167 career hits are just two shy of breaking into the top 10 for all-time hits at SF State, and with half a season left to play, she could possibly climb even higher on the list.

Gravel is no stranger to success, having competed for a Sutter High School squad that won three section championships during her four seasons there. She was also a three-time team MVP during that period.
Her stint as a Gator has been marginally less fruitful from a team standpoint, but according to Gravel, the drop-offs in wins at different points in her career have humbled her as a player and person.

While Gravel remains mellow in demeanor out on the field, her support in the stands can hardly contain their excitement. Her friends, girlfriend and parents greet her with cheers before each plate appearance and applaud even louder when she does something well.

“They’re always out there and it’s been like that since I could pick up a bat,” Gravel said of her parents. “Even when they don’t make it, my mom will tell me to call her right after the game and all that.”

Gravel said growing up she could not wait to escape Yuba City, a small town north of Sacramento that is a nearly three-hour drive away from SF State’s softball field. The distance does not deter her parents, who can often be seen occupying a spot in the steel bleachers behind home plate.

“I will always cherish the memories that we have made during all of our softball travels,” said Courtney’s mom Tina Gravel. “It all leads up to the end, senior day, which I am sure will be an emotional day for both of us. I could not be more proud of the person that Courtney is.”

Despite what has been a lackluster 5-17 start to her senior season, Gravel said she remains hungry for team and personal success as she closes out four remarkable years with the Gators.

“You kind of just look for little successes that aren’t necessarily wins and losses when your team isn’t doing well,” Gravel said. “It makes you appreciate the good games and the wins that much more.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/courtney-gravel-all-time-hits/feed/0Wrestlers close out season at National tournamenthttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/wrestling-nationals-season/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/wrestling-nationals-season/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 03:49:39 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64222A Gator wrestling trio said goodbye to the 2014-2015 season after placing 39th overall among the 48 teams competing in day one of the NCAA Division II National Wrestling Championships March 13 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Mats covered the wooden floors of the Chaiftez Arena, as the Gator wrestling trio Andrew Reggi, Jordan Gurrola and Johnny Costa prepared to face off against some of the top wrestlers and nation-ranked teams.

“We were really focused and I thought we wrestled pretty well,” said wrestling head coach Lars Jensen. “It was a very tough tournament. We were a couple points away from having two All-Americans.”

Fourth-year Reggi, who made an appearance at Nationals for the second consecutive year, started the tournament for SF State with a matchup against seventh-ranked in the nation Jake Cramer of Tiffin University. The 197-pound Gator fell short with a 9-0 decision but came back to win by fall against Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania’s Jalei Page.

Reggi ended his SF State career with a nail-biting 6-5 loss against the nation’s top wrestler, Sam Mangum.

Gator wrestler Gurrola, who entered the tournament as the sixth-ranked in the nation, lost his first match at Nationals with a 9-7 decision to Minnesota State-Moorhead’s Blake Bosch. Gurrola came back to the mat with another loss to Long Island University Post’s Joseph Calderon.

Gurrola ended his breakout sophomore season with a 29-12 record, which is the most wins on the team, and was recently named to the First Team All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Team. One of the biggest highlights of Gurrola’s season was his second place finish at the 2014-15 NCAA Division II Super West Regional Championships Feb. 28.

“Overall, I thought the year went well,” Gurrola said. “The whole year (I) prepared for this one tournament (Nationals) and I felt fine, but it just didn’t end as planned.”

The next Gator that took on the mat was walk-on sophomore Costa. The 184-pound wrestler started Nationals with a draw against number-one-ranked in the nation Dallas Smith. When the second consolation round rolled through, Costa put up a fight against Shorter University’s Terrence Smith, but lost by fall in the last minute of the match.

Jensen said the team will rest for the next three weeks and then hit the mats to start preparing for the 2015-2016 season to arrive.

He said they will lose experience from senior wrestler Reggi, who will graduate this semester but said he has high expectations for the seven returning juniors, including Gurrola and Costa, as well as new verbally committed recruits.

“We’re expecting big things next year,” Jensen said. “There are only 360 days left until Nationals again, so we’re excited and I think next year we’re going to have a real break out.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/wrestling-nationals-season/feed/0Recent attempt to ban the American flag, undermines patriotismhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/american-flag-patriotism/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/american-flag-patriotism/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 03:14:48 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64217As I walked inside the doors of the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia last fall, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of patriotism and pride for my country. Red, white and blue flags decorated the home where Betsy Ross hand-sewed the first American flag in 1776 and created the iconic image that represents the entire country.

Our flag is a symbol of the American Dream and what it means to be American. We as U.S. citizens should uphold that, not tear it down.

Recent events at University of California, Irvine have taken away the sense of pride many of us have for the American flag. Associated Students of UC Irvine, the undergraduate governing body, passed a resolution with a 6-4 vote March 5 from the Legislative Council that would ban the hanging of flags of any country in their lobby.

One of the members on the council said some students felt uncomfortable coming into the lobby and seeing that the flag was hanging on the wall, according to an article by the UCI campus newspaper. This caused debates on campus and led to the veto of the resolution March 7 by the Executive Cabinet.

The UCI community began to exhibit actions of backlash, which included death threats to those calling for the ban of the American flag, according to an UCI press release March 10. A meeting to discuss the veto of the resolution that day was cancelled in response to the threat.

The death threats to the council are unnecessary because they solve nothing. It is essential that students are showing they really care about the issue in other ways.

Hundreds of students and outsiders took to social media, expressing their opinions about the recent vote using #Americanflag.

My parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico when they were approximately five years old. Since my birth, they have tried to instill the American culture in me while simultaneously educating me about my Hispanic roots.

Being born in the United States, I have embraced patriotism and cherished what it means to be an American while keeping my Mexican heritage. Part of that is embracing the American flag and the Mexican flag equally.

With a Hispanic background, I can understand why the Legislative Council wanted to ban the American flag from hanging in the lobby. Although the intention of the flag was for decoration, according to the Legislative Council, it can be seen as a lack of diversity within the student government.

In light of all of this controversy, the entire country watched to see how the university and its students reacted. Banning the American flag from a public university is sending a message that we should not respect such an important symbol of our history.

The American flag is essential to our society and it has been with us for over 300 years. The red and white stripes represent the 13 original colonies and 50 stars symbolize the states of our nation.

Our flag represents our beginning and where we are now. When we stand to recite the pledge of allegiance, looking to the flag, we stand for our patriotism and fundamental rights.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/17/american-flag-patriotism/feed/0Suspect identified in indecent exposure reportshttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/14/indecent-exposure-update/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/14/indecent-exposure-update/#commentsSat, 14 Mar 2015 20:17:05 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64060SF State police arrested a suspect Thursday connected to a reported indecent exposure March 9, according to University officials.

The University Police Department arrested 19-year-old Kaine Sinclair and booked him on multiple misdemeanor counts of indecent exposure, according to a Clery alert sent from Vice President of Enrollment Management and Title IX Coordinator Luoluo Hong Friday.

Two additional victims of the March 9 incident have been identified by UPD, according to the alert.

Students received Clery alerts from the University March 9 and March 11 detailing separate instances of indecent exposure near campus.

A woman reported March 10 that a man exposed himself to her in Park Merced the previous day. The woman was walking on Arballo Drive when she observed a young man staring at her from across the street. As she crossed the street toward the suspect, she noticed the suspect exposing himself while staring at her, the report stated.

Hong confirmed in the email that Sinclair is not affiliated with the University.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact UPD at 415-338-2222 or the anonymous tip line at 415-338-3030.

The Gators combined lights-out pitching with the long-awaited clutch hitting that has eluded the squad this season, downing the Holy Names University Hawks 4-0 and 9-1 for the team’s first doubleheader win at home Friday.

Pitcher Megan Clark forced Hawks hitters into difficult pitch counts that resulted in countless easy outs during her first-game shutout. She stretched a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing just two hits by the game’s end.

“I didn’t even know that I was pitching a no-hitter until someone told me,” Clark said. “You can’t think like that when you’re out there.”

A defensive turning point for the Gators came in the third inning, when catcher Sara Higa gunned the ball to shortstop Jennifer Lewis to catch a stealing Holy Names baserunner. The throw veered slightly to the right, causing Lewis to leap for the catch and collide with the Holy Names player as she entered her slide. Lewis made the tag and walked away unscathed, while the other player remained on the ground before being supported off the field.

SF State proved themselves offensively in the second game, putting up nine runs through the first two innings en route to their first eight-run-rule victory of the season. A two-run hit from right fielder Aryn Guzman sailed over the left-center field fence to end the six-run second inning.

“As soon as I saw that pitch I knew it was one I wanted to attack,” said Guzman of her second homerun this season. “We’ve been doing drills where we sight the ball out of hand in practice, and I think it helped us today. We showed that we can hit collectively as a team.

The Gators hit well from top to bottom, totaling more runs in two innings of the second game than in any full game this season. Guzman, Higa, left fielder Delanie Chrisman, center fielder Chelsea Brent and third baseman Lucy Fernandez all had multiple hits throughout the day’s two games.

“It was really nice to see everyone hit well,” Fernandez said. “The hitting was more consistent today. I’m hoping that we come back looking like this next week.”

Head coach Cristina Byrne said she was glad to see her team take an early lead after watching them struggle to fight out of early holes often throughout the season.

“We got the opportunity to play from out front which was great,” Byrne said. “We were aggressive early and the middle of the lineup hit well. It was good to have a break from conference play and now we get a couple of days of before next week’s practices which should be really good for the team.”

The Gators will look to keep their momentum going into next week’s four-game series against a 14-14 conference opponent in Cal State San Bernardino.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/13/gators-softball-holy-names/feed/0Two incidents of indecent exposure reported to University policehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/13/indecent-exposure-incidents/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/13/indecent-exposure-incidents/#commentsFri, 13 Mar 2015 15:42:45 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64042An incident of indecent exposure at University Park North Wednesday was reported to the University Police Department, according to an SF State email alert. The indecent exposure is the second of two reported on off-campus housing to the University Police Department within two days.

In the most recent incident, a female victim said she witnessed a male suspect expose himself as he drove past her in a blue vehicle at 4:10 p.m. March 11 behind 220 Buckingham Way, according to the email alert.

The suspect was described in the email as an African-American male wearing a white T-shirt and driving a medium-sized vehicle.

In the earlier incident, a female victim reported a male suspect expose himself as she approached him at 8 a.m. Monday in University Park South at Arballo Drive, according to a separate email alert. The victim walked away from the suspect, who was described as a 5-foot-9-inch man, 19-20 years old, with a medium build, dark and voluminous hair, wearing a black T-shirt and tan pants, the email said. He was last seen walking toward 350 Arballo Drive, according to the alert. The incident was reported Tuesday.

The two incidents are not connected to each other, according to the email alert.

Campus officials encouraged anyone with information to contact UPD at 415-338-2222 or the anonymous tip line at 415-338-3030.

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/13/indecent-exposure-incidents/feed/0Students respond to 50 Shades of Grey hypehttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/50-shades-of-grey-reaction/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/50-shades-of-grey-reaction/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 23:58:29 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64032For SF State freshman Ariana Fletcher, bondage/discipline/sadism/masochism is more than a trend brought on by the new film “Fifty Shades of Grey”. BDSM is her sex life.

Though the controversial blockbuster aroused enough viewers to make it the highest grossing R-rated film after its first weekend in theaters, for 18-year-old Fletcher, the film portrayed her erotic lifestyle as a non-consensual, abusive practice. A portrayal that is furthest from the truth, she said.

“I think the relationship (portrayed in the book) was abusive and definitely not discussed as thoroughly as it should have been,” Fletcher said. “Showing up and spanking someone when they obviously don’t want it (like in the book), is abuse. There is no other way to put it.”

Fletcher, who identifies as pansexual, has engaged in the BDSM lifestyle for the past two years. Her ex-boyfriend introduced her to sadomasochism, or S&M and she said she practices bondage, discipline, dominance and submission because it enables her to give in and submit sexually without having to worry about anything besides serving her master.

Since the release of “Fifty Shades of Grey,”some students at SF State have expressed support of the film’s introduction to an S&amp;M relationship and the depiction of women’s ability to explore sexuality.

For Fletcher, neither the film nor the book were praise worthy.

“The book portrayed abuse, not kink,” she said.

A BDSM relationship generally involves a dominant who assumes the active or controlling role over the submissive and is often referred to as the master or mistress, according to an article on Submissive Guide’s website. A submissive submits the control of a large percentage of his or her day-to-day life to the dominant partner.

Fletcher finds the role of being a submissive to be liberating and said her real-life relationship with her dominant is nothing like the one portrayed in “Fifty Shades of Grey” between characters Ana and Mr. Grey.

Ariana Fletcher, a freshman math major, lays amongst her treasured stuffed animals as she holds her new leather paddle used for BDSM play in her dorm room Monday Mar. 2. (Martin Bustamante / Xpress)

Being a submissive is not about being beneath your master, it is about giving yourself to someone you trust,” Fletcher said.

“No one is in control of your body but you,” she said. “You always need to have communication and consent.”

Consent is something that was missing from both the film and the novel, according to Jess Linares, sex educator and retail manager of the Mission District sex shop Good Vibrations.

Linares is minoring in human sexuality at SF State and said that when it comes to BDSM or any sexual relationship, both parties need to approve everything that occurs.

“My biggest concern is that 13-year-olds watching ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ will see the relationship portrayed on the screen and they’ll think that’s healthy or okay,” Linares said.

A lack of consent in the film is what kept health education major and assistant director of EROS at SF State, Al Pugh, from reading the book or watching the film. Pugh identifies with gender-neutral pronouns and prefersto be referred to as “they.”

EROS is a dedicated, non-judgmental, sex-positive, student-run program on campus that addresses all aspects of sexuality regardless of racial, cultural or ethnic background and sexual orientation.

Pugh heard a lot of outrage from the kink community about the negative portrayals of BDSM in the film along with the misogynistic and abusive behavior demonstrated by the Mr. Grey character.

“The general public is getting a lot of their information about sex play from these books and it’s not accurate information,” Pugh said.

Although Pugh does not agree with everything “Fifty Shades of Grey” portrays, they don’t shame anyone who read, watched or enjoyed it.

“It’s important to come to terms with your sexuality in whatever way you choose,” they said. “I still think it’s perpetuating that rape culture, that it’s sexy to be this way, but I also don’t want to shame people who are turned on by being submissive.”

According to Pugh, viewers are not to blame for the absence of information on healthy versus non-healthy sexual relationships like the one portrayed in “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

“Society doesn’t talk about consent, they don’t talk about how to have sex, or talk to someone, or even hug someone, or that it is not okay to tell a women what to do,” Pughsaid

Pugh does believe the book gives women sexual freedom, especially in a culture where girls are taught not to masturbate. Despite weighing every side of the argument made for and against the book and film, Pughsaid they think there are too many things that can’t be avoided.

“It’s hard to ignore these things like ‘Fifty Shades’ because of the amount of violence and sexual assault,” Pugh said. “I’m angry that every single person that I know has been sexually assaulted. There was a sexual assault on campus just the other day, so when someone tries to glorify it or romanticize it or make it cool, it feels like 10 steps backwards for people who have gone through this stuff.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/50-shades-of-grey-reaction/feed/1Women’s softball drop four at home, despite offensive improvementhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/womens-softball-doubleheaders/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/womens-softball-doubleheaders/#commentsThu, 12 Mar 2015 22:51:11 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=64018Despite making strides towards being more effective on offense, the Gators dropped four straight to the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros in two double-headers on Friday (2-5, 3-10) and Saturday (5-9 ,0-5) .

Junior Jennifer Lewis nearly doubled her number of hits for the season during the weekend, going 6-for-13 with a home run and three RBI’s. Seniors Courtney Gravel and Selina Rodriguez also had productive days at the plate, combining for nine hits and five RBI’s.

“I just went up there not trying to do too much,” Rodriguez said. “Trying to look for my pitch has really helped me out.”

A clutch double from Rodriguez with the bases loaded scored three in the bottom of the third inning during the first of Saturday’s two games. Proactive plate appearances with runners in scoring position are something SF State’s head coach Christina Byrne would like to see continue, especially from her more experienced players.

SF Gators player Selina Rodriguez, #24, doubles during the second game of a double header against Cal State Dominguez Hills on March 6, 2015. (Sara Gobets / Xpress)

“It was really nice to see some of our big bats come around,” Byrne said. “That’s what it’s going to take to be competitive. We’ve been leaving small villages on base, and that just can’t happen. It’s way less of a problem with mechanics for the most part, it’s all about being clutch.”

Gravel, Gator shortstop, has made a strong presence by contributing offensively to numerous scoring innings for SF State. After starting the season off in a relative slump, the senior has recently raised her batting average to .328.

“I’m really seeing the ball well and swinging at a lot of good pitches,” Gravel said. “As a team we still need to capitalize on those big moments, but it’s looking good going forward with another week of adjustments.”

The Gators will look to build off of their steadily improving offensive performances when they take on Holy Names University in a Friday double-header.

“It’ll be nice to get away from the conference for a couple games,” Byrne said. “We just have two this weekend and we’ve beaten this team before. It should be nice to let the girls have a little less to do.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/12/womens-softball-doubleheaders/feed/0Hundreds gather in rally to embrace working womenhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/international-working-womens-day/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/international-working-womens-day/#commentsWed, 11 Mar 2015 09:38:49 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=63969Aztec dancers dressed in feathered headdresses blessed the crowd as they blew on conch shells and the air filled with incense. Hundreds of people of all ages swarmed in the center of Lake Merritt Amphitheater in Oakland and prepared their chants to march alongside the drumline in commemoration of International Working Women’s Day.

“Tell me what you want, what you really want,” the crowd shouted. “Justice. How we gonna get it? People power.” The marchers chanted several other mantras in various languages.

Rachel Palacios holds her daughter and blows a conch during the start of Oakland’s International Working Women’s Day Sunday, March 8. (Katie Lewellyn / Xpress).

Feb. 8 marked the 105th anniversary of the first observed strike in New York in 1909 when women workers demanded better work environments, fair pay and to be part of the a union. Women today continue the fight for free preventative care, affordable education, good health care and equal salary jobs, according to 105th International Working Women’s Day Facebook event page.

“We came together trying to figure out how to commemorate the 105th anniversary of Working Women’s Day,” said Pyxie Castillo, chairperson of League of Filipino Students at SF State. “We decided that having a celebration event that includes a rally, a march and a cultural program would be the best way to engage people in Oakland and to have people learn about the issues.”

LFS began planning the event in January and worked closely with General Assembly Binding Women for Reform, Integrity, Equality, Leadership and Action.

The event reflected on the struggles that third-world women have endured but also celebrated the hard work that they have accomplished, according to Pia Cortez, co-chair person of GABRIELA San Francisco.

“You can really see the richness and diversity with all the endorsing organizations, mostly from third-world women,” Cortez said.

The opening event was provided by a cultural blessing from Danza at Oakland’s International Women’s Day on Sunday afternoon, March 8, 2015 (Katie Lewellyn / Xpress).

Gentrification, police brutality and U.S. imperialism were main topics of discussion at the event. The roots of violence and oppression have direct ties to U.S. imperialism, according to Cortez.

“We believe that the root of all the oppression and violence that women face goes back to U.S. imperialism,” Cortez said. “There are so many different wars of aggression and military occupation that have really put women and children in danger because of it it becomes collateral damage.”

The event was intended for both men and women to gather and show appreciation for the women in their lives, according to Jordan Ilagan, secretary general of LFS.

“It is important for not just women to come out to these mobilizations but also for men to show support as well because we came from women,” Ilagan said. “My mom is a working woman, all the women in my life are working women. This is all for them.”

The Star of David necklace has become a second skin for 19-year-old Jacob Mandel, who wears his jewelry proudly but subtly underneath his striped, button-up shirt. The Jewish student began his education at SF State before it was recently named one of the top anti-Semitic schools in the country, otherwise he said he might have been misled about the University.

The David Horowitz Freedom Center, titled after its founder, reported the 10 U.S. campuses that experienced the worst anti-Semitic behavior Feb. 21. SF State was selected as the seventh worst college, below sixth ranked San Diego State University but above ninth ranked University of California, Los Angeles. The organization picked colleges based on the severity and amount of anti-Semitic behavior that occurred on campus, often with the use of university funds, according to the Horowitz Center website.

Mandel, an active member of SF State’s Hillel, the largest international Jewish student organization, spanning over 500 U.S. campuses, was baffled when he heard about the report.

“I was quite surprised when I read more into the article,” Mandel said. “I didn’t feel that (the center) really knows the feel for this campus and they had not really looked into Hillel or contacted us at all.”

In addition to the Hillel, SF State has an active Jewish fraternity and sorority on campus, along with a Jewish studies department. The chair of the department, Fred Astren, said he found the Freedom Center’s report misleading.

“We’ve heard this kind of message before – it doesn’t correspond to the reality that characterizes our campus and our campus community,” Astren said. “If you ask Jewish students or Jewish faculty, you are going to have a hard time finding people to corroborate that this is an anti-Semitic place.”

The Freedom Center cited the General Union of Palestinian Students’ protest during the celebration of Israel Independence last May as an instance of anti-Semitic behavior on campus at SF State.

“When some of the heat was generated on the political expression in (the quad), it now gets generated in the classroom and is framed in the academic study of the controversial subjects,” Astren said. “It’s less emotional. The stakes have not changed, the stakes are huge but it has taken a new framework at San Francisco State and it’s a good place to come and study these topics.”

Astren, who has taught at SF State for 19 years, said past incidents between Palestinian and Jewish students may have been considered anti-Semitic, but he believes the administration has been receptive and reactive in order to fix those issues.

“In terms of anti-Semitism on the campus, the administration has been very, very supportive and the department has its confidence in President Wong and the administration,” Astren said.

Title IX Coordinator and Vice President of Student Affairs Luoluo Hong heads the administration’s involvement in cases of discrimination. Since joining the University’s administration 10 months ago, Hong said she has not had any incidents of anti-Semitism reported to her.

“Diversity brings differences and differences can sometimes be uncomfortable but I think it’s a skill set that we’re helping develop here at San Francisco State,” Hong said.

The GUPS and Jewish students at SF State have had disagreements and animosity in the past, but administration and faculty members like Hong and Astren said they view these as expressions of opinion that could be utilized to create necessary dialogue.

Despite occasional clashing of opinions between Israeli and Palestinian students at SF State, Mandel said he believes there is hope for coexistence of the two groups.

“The first step to coexistence will have to happen here in the United States with the students and then eventually it will make its way back (to Israel and Palestine),” Mandel said.

Administration, faculty, and students believe that the most important thing is the present and how students feel and can be identified today, Astren said.

“In the end for me the student feedback is the most important thing for me to do my job,” Hong said. “It’s our community here today. I’m trying to understand what students’ experiences are today.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/anti-semitic-response/feed/5Oakland minimum wage hike leaves students uncertainhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/oakland-minimum-wage-hike-leaves-students-uncertain/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/oakland-minimum-wage-hike-leaves-students-uncertain/#commentsWed, 11 Mar 2015 09:18:21 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=63997Following San Francisco’s footsteps, Oakland increased its minimum wage from $9 to $12.25 per hour, which went into effect March 2.

SF State student Sam Gebru — unsure if the wage hike will have a lasting effect in his life — is one of the many individuals impacted by the increase.

A full-time economics student, Gebru, 22, works as a cashier at Donut Savant in Oakland 21 hours per week and as an after-school teacher at Ruby Bridges Elementary School in Alameda.

“I don’t have time for hobbies,” Gebru said. “It’s just life.”

He said commuting, balancing schoolwork and working part-time for minimum wage are average for college students.

Lift Up Oakland — a group comprising several Bay Area and statewide organizations — created and endorsed the city’s wage increase measure that received 81.77 percent of the vote in November 2014, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

Now, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, one of Lift Up Oakland’s steering committees, is focused on raising minimum wage throughout the Bay Area, according to Communications Director Beth Trimarco.

“People from various places are standing up and saying: ‘We’ve got to do something about minimum wage,’” Trimarco said. “Young people are — more and more — getting these jobs, so that they can survive and contribute to their families’ income.”

SF State transfer student Sam Gebru, 22, majoring in Economics, takes advantage of his day off from two jobs and a full time school schedule Oakland, Calif. Friday, March 6. (Katie Lewellyn / Xpress)

Living with his mother and two brothers in West Oakland, Gebru said half of his income is used to cover bills while the rest is spent on transportation, food, miscellaneous expenses and savings. He hopes to be more fiscally responsible with the extra income from the minimum wage increase and wants to focus on saving money.

“This extra $100 (from the increase) isn’t going to lift a huge weight off my shoulders, but it will definitely help,” Gebru said.

A 2014 report by the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment estimated that the minimum wage increase would impact between 40,000 and 48,000 workers and the average worker would earn $2,700 more per year.

The report also said part-time workers represent 19.9 percent of the workforce and 45.7 percent of this group would get a raise.

Trimarco said the minimum wage increase would have a lasting impact on the lives of working students, especially in regards to financial stability and healthy eating.

“I think it’s going to have a huge impact on young people in improving quality of life,” Trimarco said.

The measure also provides certain protections for employees such as prohibiting employers from cutting employee hours to cover the cost of raising wages. However, Oakland native Jessecca Brown said she is concerned about working enough hours to sustain herself.

“If owners and bosses are willing to give more hours that employees deserve, then that would make a difference,” Brown said.

Brown, 24, graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 2013 with a degree in business and has worked minimum wage at women’s boutique A Diva’s Closet in Oakland since last July. She said she might not see a large impact of the wage hike since the increase would only grant her the amount that would have been removed for taxes from her previous paychecks.

Brown said that it was difficult to overcome working a minimum wage job after investing time and money for a degree. Like Brown and Gebru, many graduates and current college students consistently must deal with the realities of working minimum wage jobs.

Looking towards the future, Gebru hopes to find a sustainable income related to music after graduating in lieu of continuing working minimum wage jobs. He has worked on a music blog called Youthful Kinfolk since 2010.

“I’ll try not to settle, if that makes a difference,” Gebru said. “This is just a job, it’s not a career.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/oakland-minimum-wage-hike-leaves-students-uncertain/feed/0Chinese New Year celebration promotes student programhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/chinese-new-year-jack-adams-hall/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/chinese-new-year-jack-adams-hall/#commentsWed, 11 Mar 2015 09:08:23 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=63990The fragrant smell of eggplant in garlic sauce and pork buns hung in the air, drifting through the red lanterns strung from the ceiling of Jack Adams Hall. Branches suspended by fishing wire sported delicate tissue paper cherry blossoms and a single written New Year’s wish: “That we can find and encourage people to donate enough money to start an endowed scholarship fund.”

The wish, hung by Mia Segura, program coordinator for SF State’s Chinese Flagship Program, was part of the impetus behind the Chinese New Year Celebration held on March 9. The annual festivity is intended to bring awareness to the program, while exposing students to the biggest Chinese festival of the year.

“It’s a good opportunity to expose students to Chinese culture and learning Chinese,” said Dr. Wen Chao Li, the director of strategic language initiative for the SF State Chinese program. “Every class (in the department) had to participate.”

SF State student Weijie Yu, left, and Janny Lee performed the song “Fairy Tale” in Mandarin at SF State’s Chinese New Year celebration at Jack Adams Hall Monday, March 9. (Kate Fraser / Xpress)

Hosted by the SF State Chinese Flagship Program and cosponsored by the SF State Chinese Program and the Confucius Institute, the event highlighted performances by the students of Chinese classes from both SF State and City College of San Francisco. The performances entailed a mix of singing, Shaolin Gong Fu martial arts and dancing. Dumpling Kitchen, located in the Sunset District, catered the event.

“The performances were really endearing,” said Tea Jiang, an international relations and Chinese flagship double major who emceed the celebration. “It captured the spirit of the year of the ram really well.”

The Chinese flagship program is a domestic and international program launched in 2009 for undergraduate students seeking careers related to China and the Chinese-speaking world.

The grant-funded program is one of only nine in the U.S. that provide students – about half of whom are non-heritage speakers – with an immersion experience in Chinese language and culture. The program also requires students to spend a year in China participating in classes and an internship.

“By providing intensive language instruction, cultural training and overseas intensive language immersion opportunities, we work closely with our students to facilitate mastery and application of the language for long-term success,” said Erica Guzman, outreach coordinator for the flagship program.

A lone wish dangles from a cherry blossom branch at SF State’s Chinese New Year festivities held in Jack Adams Hall Monday, March 9. (Kate Fraser / Xpress)

Skye Van Valkenburgh, an English education and Chinese flagship double major, began studying Chinese in high school after developing an affinity for Taiwanese TV shows.

Van Valkenburgh, who performed with her class in the celebration, said she hopes to use the Chinese she has learned at SF State to teach overseas. The flagship program, she said, provided her with the best option of doing so.

The New Year’s celebration furthered students’ application of language, as most of the dialogue and all of the entertainment performed by students was in Chinese.

Seguro said that the event provided a platform for students to show off the fruits of their labor and remind them that learning a new language is meant to be enjoyable.

“It’s just fun,” Seguro said. “Students work really hard in order to get to this level. This event is meant to celebrate them.”

]]>http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/chinese-new-year-jack-adams-hall/feed/0Anatomy students delve into cadaver dissectionhttp://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/anatomy-lab-cadaver/
http://goldengatexpress.org/2015/03/11/anatomy-lab-cadaver/#commentsWed, 11 Mar 2015 08:55:14 +0000http://goldengatexpress.org/?p=63982Under the direction of her instructor, SF State junior Caylin Ofsanko made incisions to peel back layers of skin and fat, revealing the muscular tissues of the human arm.

This week Ofsanko and her peers will carve into the lower body of a cadaver, exploring with precision what tendons, muscles and ligaments drive the powerful legs that carry human beings from place to place.

SF State senior Rachel Morales puts on her glasses in the dry lab as she prepares to dissect cadavers for her human anatomy class Thursday, March 5. 2015. (Angelica Ekeke / Xpress)

Ofsanko is enrolled in human anatomy lab, a course that offers students the opportunity to work with cadavers as a means of training for work in the medical field. Ofsanko, who is studying to become a nurse, said she was excited to take the class because it offers a hands-on experience where she said she can physically see and hold the organs she studies.

“Seeing the cadavers right in front of (me) exceeded my expectations of what I thought it would be,” Ofsanko said. “I thought it would be really messy, but it’s very clean and this experience has definitely changed the way I see human bodies.”

The cadavers are provided by the University of California, San Francisco, according to Gloria Nusse, lecturer and manager of human anatomy at SF State. Nusse said that at the end of the semester students show their gratitude toward the families of the people who donated.

“It’s really quite an incredibly wonderful and generous gift,” Nusse said, “And the students write letters to the families at the end of the semester thanking them.”

Students are given little information on the cadavers – no name – just the age and cause of the death. However, Nusse said the dissection process offers students a way to understand the behavior of the person, based on what is discovered in the dissection.

“Last semester we had a woman who had this very rare tumor in her knee and probably caused her a lot of pain.” Nusse said. “Whether it was ever diagnosed we don’t know.”

Anatomy lab assistant Zack Welch said that the lab gives students an edge when they go on to graduate school because not all anatomy programs allow their undergraduates to dissect a cadaver.

Lena Alazzeh uses a faux skeleton hand in the dry lab to practice before preparing to dissect cadavers during her Human Anatomy Lab class on Thursday, March 5. (Angelica Ekeke / Xpress)

SF State’s program encourages all the students in the lab to participate in the dissection, but it is not required. Welch said some students are more comfortable around the cadavers than others, and that the smell of formaldehyde, a preservative that prevents the body from decaying, can cause dizziness for certain people.

“If someone is smelling it too strong we’ll bring them back into the dry lab and sit with them for a couple minutes.” Welch said. “It’s usually seeing them for the first time and a little bit of the smell, but after the first lab or two, it’s easy breezy.”

Andrew Gogin, a senior in the physiology program, said he has been waiting for this opportunity since before entering college. Gogin’s father and brother have been in and out of hospitals for hip surgeries his entire life which he said inspired him to become a surgeon.

“I had to witness this as I was growing up, so that makes me more encouraged to be in the medical field.” Gogin said. “And to find out that one of our cadavers has a hip replacement makes me so intrigued to work on his hip.”

Human anatomy lab is training future nurses, physical therapists and surgeons– all students who want to help people when they are done with their time at SF State.

”I just want to help people,” Gogin said. “I’ve always wanted to help people, and help make someone feel better.”